By J. Michael Kennedy
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
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| Firefighters scramble to safety as a fast-moving Los Padres National Forest wildfire blows up along Templin Highway near Castaic, Calif., on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Rob Curtis) |
For the second time in as many days, firefighters closed Interstate 5 near Castaic as an out-of-control brush fire in the Los Padres National Forest grew to almost 24,000 acres.
The freeway closure sent thousands entering and leaving Los Angeles County onto alternate smaller highways, adding hours to the drive through the brush-laden hills around Pyramid Lake.
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| U.S. Forest Department fire trucks drive past flames as fast-moving Los Padres National Forest wildfire blows up along Templin Highway adjacent to Interstate 5 Tuesday Sept. 12, 2006, near Castaic, Calif. A wildfire that burned more than 37 square miles of brushland threatened to leap Interstate 5 on Tuesday, shutting down traffic in both directions on one of California’s busiest freeways. (AP Photo/Dave Waters) |
“It’s just a brush fire that won’t die,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball.
|He said the highway was closed about 2 p.m. Tuesday when flames and smoke intensified along the interstate. Shortly before 8 p.m., two northbound lanes and two southbound lanes were reopened, leaving three lanes closed in each direction.
The highway also was closed Monday in the late afternoon, but with cooler weather and diminishing winds, both sides of the road were temporarily reopened about 11:30 p.m. Monday.
Inspector Edward Osorio of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said the blaze, which began eight days ago, had grown to 23,943 acres by late Tuesday.
The Day fire, which started west of I-5 on Labor Day, has continued to grow, fed by thick brush and terrain that was all but impassable in some locations.
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| Passersby stop at a vista point overlooking Lake Pyramid to watch a Day Fire burn to the shoreline raging in the Los Padres National Forest north of Los Angeles on Friday Sept. 8, 2006. The fire, grew to more than 13,000 acres Friday, although no structures were threatened. Nearly 1,000 firefighters were battling the Day Fire, which broke out Monday in dry brush and timber about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mike Meadows) |
The fire was 25% contained by late Tuesday.
No one has been injured and no major structures have burned, though Osorio said several engine companies are keeping a wary eye on Paradise Ranch, a mobile home park a few miles south of Pyramid Lake. The park is on the east side of the interstate.
“We feel comfortable Paradise Ranch won’t be affected,” he said.
Osorio said firefighters were working on the northern and southern edges of the blaze, while trying to keep it from jumping across the interstate to the east.
Small spot fires that have jumped the road have been quickly extinguished, he said.
“Access and steep, rugged terrain is a problem,” he said. “Right now the issues are to find anchor points to the west and north. We have a dozer line in the south and feel comfortable we can hold there.”
Fire officials said much of the problem with containing the fire had to do with soaring temperatures, which went above 100 degrees about the time the freeway was closed for the second time.
The Day fire began in Ventura County, about 10 miles northwest of Castaic in Los Angeles County. It spread into a section of the Los Padres forest southwest of Pyramid Lake and west of the interstate.
Investigators said the fire began with someone burning “a small amount of material,” the U.S. Forest Service reported. No arrests have been made.